Lilly retires 19 in row in Dodgers' 2-0 win

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LOS ANGELES(AP) -- The resurrection of Ted Lilly with the Los
Angeles Dodgers is progressing by leaps and bounds. It seems
like he keeps one-upping himself with every start.

The 34-year-old left-hander threw a two-hitter to win his fourth
straight outing since joining the Dodgers, and Reed Johnson hit
his first homer of the season in a 2-0 victory over the Colorado
Rockies on Thursday night.

"Lilly's had great starts every time out for us," manager Joe
Torre said. "Tonight we needed a lift, and he just took it on
his shoulders and went for it. Teddy over the years - and I had
him in New York - was like a five, six-inning guy because his
pitch count would always be high. But I've seen him mature in a
different uniform. He's come a long way. He has stood the test
of time, for me."

Lilly (7-8) had a season-high 11 strikeouts, walked two and
retired 19 consecutive batters in his third career shutout.
Dexter Fowler lined a double past third baseman Casey Blake and
down the left field line with one out in the first, and the
Rockies didn't get another baserunner until Troy Tulowitzki
grounded a single through the middle with two outs in the
seventh.

Lilly retired his final 20 batters in his Dodgers debut on Aug.
3 at Chavez Ravine when he pitched seven innings of two-hit ball
in a 2-1 victory over San Diego. The two-time All-Star came to
Los Angeles from the Chicago Cubs just before the non-waiver
trade deadline along with second baseman Ryan Theriot.

"I'm feeling good about what I'm doing," said Lilly, who has a
1.29 ERA since the trade. "I'm going to enjoy this tonight, but
I know I've got to be prepared for my next start against
Milwaukee. I don't think I'm ever going to get totally
comfortable, because the competition's too good for that."

The 110-pitch complete game was Lilly's fifth in 277 career
starts and first in 174 starts since Aug. 23, 2004, when he beat
Boston 3-0 at Toronto with a three-hitter and a career-high 13
strikeouts.

"It's important to get that first strike and move the ball
around from there," he said. "I've had a few spurts where I've
gotten erratic. But for the most part, I've been able to throw
strike one and work off of that, whether it's with the fastball
or breaking ball."

The complete game shutout was the Dodgers' third this season,
with one each by Chad Billingsley and Vicente Padilla.

"Lilly was living on the corners tonight," Rockies right fielder
Ryan Spilborghs said. "He was doing a good job of hitting the
corners on both sides of the plate and using his off-speed
stuff. If his location's there and he's getting the corners,
like he was tonight, that makes him really difficult.

"We hit some balls hard off of him that very easily could have
turned our innings around. He didn't make a mistake missing any
balls in the middle of the plate. And if he did, we were fouling
them off or hitting them right at their guys."

The Rockies' frustration boiled over in the eighth, when Miguel
Olivo was ejected by umpire Laz Diaz for arguing a called third
strike on a curveball and slamming his bat with both hands.
Manager Jim Tracy came out and acted as a shield between Olivo
and Diaz, but was not ejected.

"For a two-strike breaking ball, I would have wanted it maybe a
little bit lower, but I definitely thought I threw it for a
strike," Lilly said. "Obviously he didn't like the call."

Jorge De La Rosa (4-4) allowed two runs, five hits and four
walks over seven innings for Colorado. The left-hander is 1-3
with a 5.16 ERA in eight starts since missing 67 games because
of a torn tendon in his middle finger.

Johnson, who was thrown out at the plate in the 10th inning
Wednesday night for the final out of the Dodgers' 3-2 loss,
drove De La Rosa's 2-2 pitch into the left field pavilion in the
second inning after a walk to Blake. The homer was his first
since June 19, 2009 for the Cubs against Cleveland and Cliff
Lee.

"I used my fastball more tonight and located it very good, so
they hit a lot of ground balls," De La Rosa said. "The pitch to
Johnson was a mistake. I think he was looking for that pitch. I
threw it right there and I paid for it. But that's part of
baseball. I was facing a very good pitcher, so you've got to
give him credit."

NOTES: The Dodgers placed Padilla on the 15-day DL because of a
bulging disk in his neck. Padilla, 32, has given up 12 runs, 14
hits, two homers and four walks in 9 1-3 innings since August 4.
... Todd Helton was 0 for 2 with a walk, and is 1 for 29 against
the Dodgers through the first nine meetings. He came into this
season batting .294 against them with 38 homers and 122 RBIs.
... Johnson, who hit a career-high 12 home runs for Toronto in
2006, signed with the Dodgers as a free agent in February after
spending the previous two seasons with the Cubs. He started in
right field to give Andre Ethier a day off.